Romney Criticizes Obama on Economy Even as Growth Picks Up. By Margaret Talev and John McCormick – 2012-10-26T20:37:28Z

Mitt Romney delivers a speech on the economy at Kinzler Construction services in Ames, Iowa, on Oct. 26, 2012.

Republican Mitt Romney delivered his closing campaign argument for a change in the White House, attacking President Barack Obama’s economic policies and leadership and saying the incumbent has failed the nation.

Oct. 26 (Bloomberg) — Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney speaks at a campaign stop in Ames, Iowa, about the performance of President Barack Obama and his proposals to stimulate job growth, balance the budget and promote bipartisan cooperation. (Source: Bloomberg)

US Republican Presidential nominee Mitt Romney holds a rally at Defiance High School in Defiance, Ohio. Photographer: Emmanuel Dunand/AFP/Getty Images

Obama “doesn’t have any prospect of meeting the challenges of the times,” Romney said in an address in the battleground state of Iowa. “Americans are ready for change, for growth, for jobs, for more take home pay, and we’re going to bring it to them.”

Adopting the theme that Obama used to win the presidency in 2008, Romney said he and running mate Paul Ryan represent “real change, change that offers promise, promise that the future will be better than the past.”

Romney spoke hours after the U.S. Commerce Department said gross domestic product rose at a 2 percent annual rate in the third quarter after climbing 1.3 percent in the prior three months. The median forecast of 86 economists surveyed by Bloomberg called for a 1.8 percent gain.

Romney called today’s figures disappointing, and said Obama’s “misguided” policies “slowed the recovery” from ther recession the Democrat inherited when he took office. Romney offered no new specifics for policy changes beyond what he’s already laid out on the campaign trail.

Economic Reports

The GDP reading is one of two government reports to be released before voters go to the polls on Nov. 6 in a presidential race in which the U.S. economy is the dominant issue. On the Friday before Election Day, Nov. 2, the Labor Department will issue jobs data for October.

Payrolls rose 114,000 in September after climbing 142,000 in August, while the unemployment rate dropped to a three-year low of 7.8 percent, the first time it had been under 8 percent in 43 months.

Last night in Ohio, another of the nine states where both campaigns say the election will be decided, Obama said it was Romney who was proposing solutions — such as lower tax rates for all Americans, including the wealthiest — that have been tried and failed.

“We just tried that philosophy in the decade before I took office,” Obama said in Cleveland. “And we know what happened. It didn’t work.”

Ohio Poll

Ohio is one of the campaign’s most pivotal swing states — those with a history of supporting either major party’s presidential candidate — and a CNN/ORC poll of its likely voters released this afternoon shows Obama ahead. The president was backed by 50 percent, Romney by 46 percent in the Oct. 23-25 survey of 741 likely voters. The poll’s margin of error is plus or minus 3.5 percentage points.

Romney today said it is Obama’s push to raise taxes on the wealthiest Americans and his attempts to jumpstart the economy that haven’t succeeded.

“This is not the time to double down on trickle-down government policies that have failed us,” Romney said. “It’s time for new, bold changes that measure up to the moment and can bring America’s families the certainty that the future will be better than the past.”

Lis Smith, an Obama campaign spokeswoman, said Romney hasn’t offered anything new and that his proposals would have little impact on the recovery while benefiting the nation’s wealthiest taxpayers.

Romney “most recent ‘major policy speech’ included dishonest attacks and empty promises of change, but no new policy,” Smith said in a statement.

Obama’s Argument

Obama has had a series of positive economic reports in recent weeks to point to as he argues that his policies are helping accelerate the recovery from the worst recession in more than seven decades.

Retail sales in September and August had the best back-to- back showing since late 2010. Cars and light trucks sold at a 14.9 million annual pace in September, the strongest since March 2008, according to Ward’s Automotive Group, as Chrysler Group LLC and General Motors Co. (GM), which were bailed out under Obama, reported gains.

Another area of improvement is the housing market as record-low mortgage rates stoke demand.

‘Right Direction’

Alan Krueger, chairman of Obama’s Council of Economic Advisers, said in a blog post that “we have more work to do,” yet today’s report “provides further evidence that the economy is moving in the right direction.”

When Obama took office, U.S. GPD was shrinking at an annualized rate of 8.9 percent and unemployment was at 7.3 percent. The jobless rate peaked at 10 percent in October 2009. While it has since fallen to 7.8 percent last month, the slow climb out of the recession has increased the number of number of discouraged workers by 17.1 percent.

Gross federal debt has increased 45.5 percent to $16.2 trillion.

Still, consumer confidence has risen from 37.4 at the time of Obama’s inauguration in January 2009 to 70.3 last month, indicating increasing optimism. The Dow Jones Industrials Average has jump 64.8 percent and household net worth has climbed 22.4 percent.

Concern about the pace of recovery has remained a powerful force working to Romney’s advantage. That has kept the battle for voter support between Romney and Obama tight into the closing days of the campaign.

The latest Washington Post/ABC News national tracking poll shows Romney with 49 percent support among likely voters and Obama with 48 percent support, a result within the survey’s three percentage point margin of error.

Foreign Policy

Romney also touched on foreign policy, again arguing that Obama hasn’t fulfilled his promise to raise the standing of the U.S. in the world. Without giving specifics, he vowed he would pursue a more successful course.

“We’ll help the Muslim world combat the spread of extremism; we will dissuade Iran from building a nuclear bomb; we will build enduring relationships throughout Latin America; we’ll partner with China and other great nations to build a more stable and peaceful world.”

The campaigns have concentrated on the nine battleground states that account for 110 of the 270 Electoral College votes needed to win the presidency.

Obama is scheduled to travel tomorrow to a campaign rally in Nashua, New Hampshire, where singer James Taylor is set to perform.

After his brief visit to Iowa today, Romney is scheduled to return to Ohio, where he started his day, for a rally tonight. He is expected to campaign in Florida tomorrow.

A super-storm predicted to develop from Hurricane Sandy is already affecting the campaign schedule along the East Coast. Romney’s campaign is citing the storm for cancellation of a campaign event set for Oct. 28 in Virginia Beach, Virginia.

The system, dubbed “Frankenstorm” by the National Weather Service, is projected to grow out of Sandy and two other storms rushing eastward across the U.S.

If the storm hits Washington early next week, it could also affect the president’s travel plans.